Battle Over School -- Revolution Or Evolution

The senior citizens who oppose the proposed middle school on Woolbright and El Clair Ranch roads west of Boynton Beach say it's illogical to build a middle school in an area so dominated by retirees.

Senior developments now outnumber family developments by about 2-1 in the area west of Boynton Beach and south of Boynton Beach Boulevard.

But a building boom along Jog Road clearly is changing the area, experts say, and the debate between seniors and young families over the school highlights the evolution of the area. Young and old are living together, but in ratios that fluctuate.

The ratio will probably grow more weighted toward youth in the future, said Jerry Kolo, professor of urban planning at Florida Atlantic University.

"The market for [retirement communities] is shrinking,'' he said. "Any builder who has foresight is looking at that trend.''

Kolo said North Carolina, Texas and parts of the Pacific Northwest have overtaken Florida as havens for retirees. Also, many of the people moving to Florida are from Latin and Caribbean cultures in which older people rarely want to live apart from younger people and usually stay close to their families.

Leslie Marks, executive director of the National Council on Seniors Housing, isn't so sure Kolo's theory will hold true.

She acknowledges people who choose to leave their homes when they retire -- which amounts to about 20 percent of all retirees -- are increasingly choosing to move to states other than Florida.

But still, she said, because the sheer number of older people is rising, retirement housing remains a "growth industry.''

For now, the senior population in the area south of Boynton Beach Boulevard continues to swell. Huge billboards announcing "active adult" subdivisions under construction dot Jog Road.

But for Carl Flick, a Palm Beach County planner who oversees the area west of Boynton Beach, the density of seniors in the area doesn't take precedence over the needs of families.

"It disturbs me that people are saying schools shouldn't be located here,'' Flick said, gesturing toward a map of the area spread out on a table in his office.

Right now, about 300 middle school-age children live within walking distance of the controversial site. That number is expected to increase to 450 by the time a school would open there in August 2001, said Linda Hines, the school district's director of planning and real estate. About 1,300 students would attend the school.

"That's excellent. Excellent with a capital E,'' Flick said, after figuring out the percentage of nearby students on his calculator. The school district also likes that number, but seniors west of Boynton disagree.

At several heated Palm Beach County School Board meetings since March, when school district staff was ready to recommend the Woolbright site, seniors characterized the children as threats to their safety. But seniors perceive the biggest problem with the school to be traffic, said Sanford Gilbert, who lives at Indian Springs.

El Clair Ranch Road and Woolbright Road are two-lane roads, and traffic is congested. Adding the buses and parents who would be carting students to and from school would tangle traffic even further, Gilbert said.

And because there are no sidewalks in the area, the children's safety is a concern, he said.

The roads around the proposed school will have to be widened anyway, with or without the school, Flick said. The problem is the preponderance of gated communities in the area. When a community has only one gated entrance, Flick explained, all traffic is forced to use the same road to enter. Often it gets backed up.

If this type of development continues to dominate, Flick said, all the roads west of Boynton Beach could eventually wind up with six or even eight lanes.

The seniors say they do want a school somewhere west of Boynton Beach. But the site they prefer is at Jog Road and Gateway Boulevard. The county-owned site is much larger than the controversial site and is cheaper.

But school district planners say the site would require fill dirt, which would add to the cost. And it is near an existing middle school, Christa McAuliffe.

Many parents in the area, however, prefer the Woolbright Road site. After the protest by senior citizens prompted school district staff to withdraw the recommendation, parents organized and fought back. The site was placed back on the list of six under consideration.

About 15 children crowded a corner of the Indian Wells neighborhood on a recent morning, waiting for the bus that would deliver them to Carver Middle School, 2 miles away. Several parents waited with them.

Angie Ribeiro, 36, longed for the sort of school she grew up attending in Saddle Brook, N. J., where kids went to neighborhood schools.